LED Lighting selection

Acrowhora · #1 07-01-2013, 05:05 AM

what's your budget and what type of coral are you planning to keep?SPS?LPS?

Quote:

Originally Posted by geweagle

Hello all,
I am new at this. I have just started a saltwater system, 80 gal. 48" long, 24" deep tank. It was fresh before so I need to upgrade the lighting. I was looking at T5's fixtures, but the more I read the more I am looking at LED's. Initial cost is a high, so I don't want to break the bank, but I do want to have corals. I know they pay in the long run, but got to afford the startup. I was looking at the Vertex Illumilux IV LED Fixture - Dolce Bianco. But I just cannot find anthing to say if it is enough light.

Also there are so many things to add to LED fixtures. So the second question is: does this unit need anything to run it? Or is it a plug and play? At least to start. I cannot even get enough from the manufacture site. It talks all the techno-jargen, but not something simple like how you run it.

Any help or advice would be appreciated. If this is not the right choice maybe you could suggest something else that does not break the bank.

Thanks

geweagle · #2 07-01-2013, 05:27 AM

About $500.00 and if I understand the terms both. Wife wants some hard corals

mrhasan · #3 07-01-2013, 07:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by geweagle

About $500.00 and if I understand the terms both. Wife wants some hard corals

Since your budget is low, look into evergrow LED. You can keep sps under it and those lights have good reviews too.

geweagle · #4 07-01-2013, 09:49 AM

So are you both saying that the Vertex is not enough light?

I was looking at the Vertex Illumilux IV LED Fixture - Dolce Bianco. But I just cannot find anthing to say if it is enough light.

jason604 · #5 07-01-2013, 10:51 AM

I'm using taotronics dimmable led lights I purchased on amazon and they are wonderful my tank is a 75g that consists of half sps and half lps. The lights were only under $200 each and my sps that I purchased from other reefers seem to grow so fast and color up even more. Believe it or not but I'm only using one fixture even tho my tank has a centre brace which blocks quite a bit of light in the middle. I will most likely buy another one when I upgrade my tank size. Been running for 2-3 months and so far no corals have died and grew super fast and amazing.

iceman86 · #6 07-01-2013, 01:44 PM

You can do a diy led kit which isnt hard to build at all. http://www.aquastyleonline.com/produ...mable-Kit.html thats the kit id recomend and is plenty of light for sps. You can always get a smaller kit and then order the different color leds extra if you want a broader spectrum which is what I did. I went with the 36 led kit (they sent me 40) 20 white/20 royal blue then I also added 20 regular blue. Seems thsts the combo most high end lights run these days. You could get red, green, yellow etc but corals dont really use much of it and there's also a lot of debate about those colours whether they benefit you or your algae lol You must get dimmable or you will cook everything. I cooked a mushroom on the sandbed when I first got it.

My tank is a little bigger than yours and im running 60 leds and I can cook sps if I dont turn the intensity down.

mrhasan · #7 07-01-2013, 07:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by geweagle

So are you both saying that the Vertex is not enough light?

I was looking at the Vertex Illumilux IV LED Fixture - Dolce Bianco. But I just cannot find anthing to say if it is enough light.

Vertex doesn't have a very good reputation for growing SPS as far as I know.

sphelps · #8 07-01-2013, 07:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrhasan

Vertex doesn't have a very good reputation for growing SPS as far as I know.

I wouldn't say that, the 260-360 fixtures are really nice, seen lots of amazing SPS tanks under those but the IV fixture is way different. At only 6 LED per foot you're looking at 68 watts total. While it sure would be nice if you could get away with only 68W of lighting on a 4' tank 80 gallon tank it just isn't nearly enough for SPS and many LPS corals. The IV fixtures are modular, the idea is to use as many of them as you need which in your case is probably 3-4. So they certainly aren't budget fixtures, AI sols are cheaper and IMO a better option.

I agree you should look at Evergrow. Two D120s would be good if you're not interested in much control. A single 32" IT2080 is the other option which will offer more control but less output. That's pretty much it for LED options under $500 to cover that size tank and support SPS coral.

donkey77 · #9 07-02-2013, 01:09 AM

run AI Sol's you'll love them

chewie · #10 07-01-2013, 07:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by geweagle

So are you both saying that the Vertex is not enough light?

I was looking at the Vertex Illumilux IV LED Fixture - Dolce Bianco. But I just cannot find anthing to say if it is enough light.

I think you could get something else cheaper that seems to do a better job.
http://www.jlaquatics.com/product/vt...8+Inch%29.html
seems to be more for planted tanks, refugiums. Not for corals